Green Screen Movie FX: Time For Your Close-Up

Have you ever wondered just how Hollywood green screen magic happens? Ever wondered if you could take that mojo back to the crib and play with it yourself? Whether you have or not, Green Screen Movie FX iPhone app by developer Epocfield offers quality chroma keying technology on your iPhone for a low cost-of-entry—acting skills not included. Our iPhone app review takes chroma keying for a test drive.

Concept and Functionality

Green Screen Movie FX iPhone app aims to be an all-in-one resource for chroma keying on the iPhone. For those not in the know, chroma key is the technology used by Hollywood (and your local meteorologist) to project an image or video onto a green screen. This allows any actor to move about while God-knows-what happens behind him. With the advent of easier chroma keying and mobile technology like the iPhone, you can now take this fun on the road and straight to your home. Using Green Screen Movie FX, simply point your iPhone at any blank background, adjust to match the color and then introduce your actors to hilarious results. Want to do the Electric Slide in front of the Eiffel Tower? With Green Screen Movie FX you can!

That’s the idea, anyway. For the most part chroma keying with the app is a success, though it’s far from flawless. To accurately replace the background you’ll have to find a smooth surface with little to no variation. For most of us this means a blank wall. Keeping that in mind, I did manage to record some interesting videos though never without heavy tweaking. Green Screen Movie FX supplies a fine-tune key for the chroma effect, as well as individual color sliders. Finding the right balance between red, green and blue is often difficult, and even when done correctly the effect is still spotty, producing pixelated edges. That being said, Green Screen Movie FX is far better at chroma keying than any other iPhone or Mac app I know of. It’s a solid effort that’s limited by mobile technology.

Design and Layout

Green Screen Movie FX

Green Screen Movie FX’s design is fluid and top-notch. Recorded videos are easy to manage, and the delete all function is very appreciated. However, to access your videos you’ll have to open iTunes and file sharing, which is certainly a pain. Thankfully, the developers have integrated the app with Mail, FaceBook, DropBox and the iPhone’s gallery, making the process easier though hardly streamlined.

Overall Value

So the final question is this: Does Green Screen Movie FX offer enough quality to warrant the two dollar price-tag? And the answer is—certainly! The app offers the best chroma keying I’ve seen on a mobile device, and though it’s not perfect, it’s better than the rest. Combined with many exporting options and a smooth interface, Green Screen Movie FX is a gem in the stack.

Green Screen Movie FX requires iOS 3.0 or later and is compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. A small expedite fee was paid by the developer to speed up the publication of this review.